Monday, April 22, 2013

Apple A Day - Green Smoothie Recipe & Giveaway!

Today's the kickoff!
Green Smoothie Challenge - Day 1
In case you forgot or are seeing this for the first time, all you have to do is add one green smoothie to your day for 7 days. That's it! How easy right?! Here's a look at my first ever green smoothie....

green smoothie recipe with apples and fruit
We love apples in this house. My little one will carry an apple around like most tots do their paci. He'll stay busy on that apple all day. It's quite the babysitter. Apples are a staple, a must have in my house!

The first time I put apples in the blender was for this salad dressing and I remember thinking, well this is weird. But that salad dressing went down as one of my absolute faves. So for my first green smoothie I wanted to try mixing apples in with other fruits and handfuls of spinach.

Like apples, everyone in the fam wants a sip of my smoothie. I always make enough for at least 2 glasses and if I'm really being generous with MY smoothie then an entire blender full will make about 3 glasses. I tell you this because if you too make enough to share then you really need to double up on the greens to reep all the benefits of a green smoothie.

Apple a Day - Green Smoothie Recipe

1/2 c. almond milk
2 c. chopped spinach
1 fugi apple sliced/cubed
1 c. frozen pineapple chunks
1 c. frozen strawberry slices
*measurements are close estimates, I really just chop and dump!

apple a day green smoothie recipe and picture
So my first Green Smoothie wasn't actually the color green?! Keep that in mind, not all green smoothies are green. If you're adding blueberries or tons of strawberries or not using enough spinach/other green then the color will vary :)

Aside from the stems, I LOVED it!
I promise you, you can't taste the spinach!

Stealing a few tips from my Makings of a Green Smoothie post.... pour milk into blender first then add spinach, followed by fruits. It's important to put milk or creamy fruits in first so the blades/motor can work efficiently. My first green smoothie held a few stems, I realized that breaking the spinach leaves into pieces before adding to blender would help my smoothies be more smooth and stem free. Freezing my fruits the night before is really helpful too. Every smoothie needs something frozen otherwise you just get juice. Another fun trick for something frozen is making spinach ice cubes! Do this by placing spinach leaves in an ice cube tray and adding water. Tossing 5 or so into an otherwise unfrozen smoothie recipe will help you get the right consistency.

Also check out my Banana and Oat Post Workout Green Smoothie, it's my favorite!
The Green Smoothie linky is filling up with recipes too, check it out!


So team up with us!
Make sure to comment on one of our blogs so we know you're doing it too!

It's been a bit tricky to keep track of each person whose joined. Katherine who host this challenge has about 60 people signed up and each of us co-host are showing anywhere from 5 to 20 people joining. As important as it is for us to share recipes with you, it's even more important that we get to really know each other through this challenge! We'll have link ups set for you join on Wednesday, Friday and the final day - next Monday. This will give us all one place to be together and a chance to show off share our favorite green recipes and mingle!!

Be sure to check out Katherine, Hope, Ashlee, Sally, and Jezz too! They each have yummy recipe's posted this week for the challenge! Let us know if you have any troubles or questions, we're here for ya!!

And now GIVEAWAY TIME :)
sponsored by Amazing Grass. Enter now, winner selected on Tuesday!
a Rafflecopter giveaway



P.S. if you missed the weekends fun you can find it here


post signature
Linking with Wonderful FoodYOLO Mondays, Miscellany Mondays, Moms Monday Mingle, Bloglovin, Katherines Corner

22 comments:

  1. I think I am going to try your smoothie recipe tonight :) thanks for sharing them... I have been searching for some for a while. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love making green smoothies or all fruit smoothies. However, I am still skeptical about putting pineapple in. I am a texture person and every time I have had pineapple in one, it has had a stringy consistency still. Is that just the blender I'm using or can I just not have pineapple in a smoothie haha

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my gosh, the almond milk sounds good. I have to try this too! Nice recipe.

    I joined the challenge as well and posted my first try. Nothing big, but it's just a starter! Would love you to visit my blog and fb page as well and join me! Thanks so much.

    Elle A.

    www.polepassionbyellea.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy Earth & Green Smoothie Day! This sounds delicious and will have to add it to my list. I not big on measuring so I like the dump it in method, can't wait to see what you come up with next!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the post and I am going to try the smoothie. It sounds so good. I will add it to my smoothie file.Happy Earth and Green Day!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Girl, next time add in some oats! It will up the amazingness factor, I promise :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. this smoothie sounds great. i've been eating more recently since there is more yummy fresh fruit out there. will have to try adding spinach!
    -- jackiejade.blogspot.com
    -- $50 Amazon gift card giveaway

    ReplyDelete
  8. That smoothie looks delightful!

    ReplyDelete
  9. That smoothie looks really good. I'm bummed. I went to make a PB and oatmeal one a month or so ago and realized all the milk was running out, checked my blender, the seal between the glass and blades piece was missing. And I haven't gottena round to buying a new one yet - so, no smoothies for me :(

    ReplyDelete
  10. I can't wait to try this recipe! I never use apples in smoothies, what a great idea!
    Sally

    Come say hi! Forward From The Heart

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stopping by from the blog hop at:
    http://peacoatsandplaid.blogspot.co.uk

    i will FOR sure have to try this out!!!


    http://mscomposure.blogspot.com
    http://www.infinitelifefitness.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love this challenge idea!! and i need to try this recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I just learned that if you blend the spinach and liquid first, you will ensure that all the stems are liquefied, and then add the rest. It made my smoothie so smooth!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've been trying green smoothies with kale lately. I may switch to spinach, since kale is thick and bitter. I'll have to try it with almond milk too! Thanks for the recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I like the tip about the spinach ice cubes! Great recipe..yum!

    -AJ
    FitTravelerAJ.com

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you!
Drop a line, it brightens my entire day :)